Ten European jobs that didn’t exist ten years ago (10 images)
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In mid-March British newspaper The Guardian listed ‘zumba teacher’ and ‘app designer’ as some of its top five jobs that didn’t exist a decade ago. We knocked heads across our international editions to add to the list. The rise of the internet, eco-thinking and a more flexible working world have defined a more spirited, imaginative and realistic zeitgeist of our times. Nevertheless, graduating at the age of 21 and applying to be a ‘social media manager’ can also leave the door slightly ajar to a sense of ridicule about the new roles of our 21st evolved society. How many people do you know who are doing these jobs?
With the move from blogs to social networks and an embedded 'online' culture in our lives, of course 'management' had to enter the fray somewhere. These are two terms which we definitely got used to working with at cafebabel.com in the late noughties, and which make The Guardian’s top five list. Europe has even had its very own community manager appreciation day since 2012 (Image: (cc) johnwilliamsphdJohn Williams/ Flickr)
A glance at France's 'round table of new sectors' in 2012 confirms that the web is one giant beast that needs leashing with the proliferation of more technical internet-related jobs. If you want to check whether you can be a good 'search engine optimisation' specialists, you can take this quiz (Image : (cc) Ghostboy/ Renato Guerreiro/ Flickr)
The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy came into power in 2007 with all race guns blazing but he did end up apologising for his short-lived, controversially titled 'Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Codevelopment of France' in 2010. Pictured, a mock-up of its first minister Brice Hortefeux as the famous cinematic groove character 'Brice from Nice' (Image: (cc) blogcpolitic/ Flickr)
The onslaught of the crisis in Europe over the last few years might have bucked our trend to spend, but that hasn't meant jobs assessing customer service performance have dwindled. How we'd all like to pretend to be guests in hotels, restaurants or shops like these 'mystery guests' do (Image: (cc) Tinker*Tailor loves Lalka/ Flickr)
Sustainability experts (or 'carbon balance experts' in France) advise companies and individuals on watching their footprint. Jobs supporting the green economy are on the rise, reflecting the need for change on a global scale, but also growing trends in our own lifestyle choices: for example, did you ever think of getting a job in environmentally sustainable deathcare options, and conducting a Spanish eco-funeral? The Guardian's top five is completed with the addition of ‘green deal assessor’ and ‘offshore windfarm engineer’ (Image : (cc) Oxfam International/ Flickr)
The first woman prime minister in the EU was the UK’s Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990), who died on 8 April; try as we might, we have never found a reference to her late husband Dennis as ‘first husband’. Meanwhile the Germans have nicknamed chancellor Angela Merkel's husband Joachim Sauer (both pictured) in English as the Brits might have done (though he does has a job, and he's a good old quantum physicist). Elsewhere in Europe Lithuania is famous for having had two female prime ministers and a current female president. They call their first lady 'pirmoji ledi', so there is a joke that 'first husband' should be called 'pirmasis ledas', which sounds similar to 'lady', but literally means 'ice' (Image: (cc) Downing Street/ Flickr)
'Software' or 'platforms' in computing can be separated as 'cloud services'. The role was coined between 2007 and 2009 according to wikipedia (Image: courtesy of © Shutterstock, as seen on facebook)
The idea of a ‘Cool Hunter’, which was born in the early nineties, was joined in the late nineties by the likes of the ‘Personal Shopper’. Their bastard son could be the trend analyser, as played by actress Rashida Jones (pictured right) whose yoga-practising character runs her own media business in the film Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012). Although arguably trend analysis has always existed in terms of weather, news and economy forecasts, it is fashion and technology which is kicking the role up a modern notch or two (Image: film poster for © Celeste and Jesse Forever)
American romantic comedies have their own place in the sun with these kinds of roles for their female leads. And let's face it, a wedding planner is as required a character in a rom-com (think the 'eccentric European wedding designer' of 1991's Father of the Bride) as the character of a jester would be in a Shakespeare play. The ‘baby planner’, a role which emerged in 2006 according to wikipedia, seems to have been directly imported from the US to Europe. Who doesn't need a private maternity consultant? (Image: (cc) dangerismycatRyan James/ Flickr)
‘Bomeur’ is an amalgam of the words ‘bourgeois’ and ‘unemployed person’ (chomeur). Some argue it’s a job not having a job these days. 'Then you have a lot of unemployed people who invent something to fill in their facebook profiles,' says one of our Italian contacts - self-denoted jobs include 'creative thinker', 'travel maker' and 'nomadic creative adventurer' (Illustration: © Henning Studte http://www.studte-cartoon.de/)
This slideshow features the input and participation of Katharina Kloss, Agata Grzaba, Matthieu Amare,Valeria Nicoletti, Daiva Repeckaite and Jorge Mallen: thank you!